On This Day 12th August in Irish History

Guest

1969- The Battle of the Bogside began in Derry and lasted for 3 days.

Births

1762- George of Hanover, son of King George III was born in London. He would succeed his father to the throne of Britain, Ireland and Hanover in 1820. Also served as Regent from 1811, during his father’s bouts of madness.

1972- Mark Kinsella, footballer, born in Dublin.

1981- Tony Capaldi, footballer, born in Norway. Plays for Northern Ireland.

Deaths

1822- Robert Stewart, Irish politician, died in England. Born in Dublin in 1769 and better known by his title Viscount Castlereagh. He was Chief Secretary For Ireland during the 1798 Rebellion and was architect of the Act of Union. After a mental breakdown he committed suicide by cutting his own throat.

1914- John Holland, Clare-born submarine designer, died in the US.

1922- Arthur Griffith, President of Dáil Éireann, died in Dublin.

1944- Lt Joseph Kennedy, oldest of the Kennedy Brothers, was killed flying over England.

1959- Mike O’Neill, Galway-born baseball player, died in the US.

Guest

Anything more on Arthur Griffith, Lestat?

Guest

Arthur Griffith

He was born on 31st March 1872 at 61 Upper Dominick St, Dublin.
By trade he was a printer, working at The Nation.
He joined the Gaelic League and the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Was a supporter of C S Parnell, but later criticied the Irish Parliamentary Party for it’s association with the Liberal Party.
Visited South Africa in 1897 while convalescing from TB.
Founded the United Irishman with William Rooney in 1899. The paper collapsed in 1906 after a libel suit and was re-founded as Sinn Féin, banned by the British in 1914.
Supported the so-called Limerick Pogrom in 1904
Married Maud Sheehan, 24th November 1910. Together they had a son and a daughter.
Was an admirer of Czarist Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany as morally superior to Britain, but denounced socialism and pacifism as tools of the British Empire. He also criticised Jim Larkin for crippling Irish industry in 1913 to Britain’s benefit.
Griffith and Rooney founded Cumann na nGaedhael in August 1900 as an umbrella organisation to unite nationalist and separatist groups and clubs. Cumann na nGaedhael merged with other organisations in 1905 to become Sinn Féin. Griffith proposed at this time that Ireland should become a separate kingdom alongside Great Britain, with a shared monarch but separate governments. He declared the Act of Union illegal. He also proposed that Irish MPs boycott Westminster. Sinn Féin was soon infiltrated by the IRB who wanted to replace the dual-monarchy policy with Republicanism. Griffith and SF took no part in the 1916 Rising though the British routinely described it as the Sinn Féin Revolt.
When the surviving leaders of the 1916 Rising were released in 1917 they joined Sinn Féin en masse. Under De Valera, the new boys pushed their republican agenda in opposition to Griffith’s supporters who were still following the idea of a dual monarchy. The row nearly split the party at an Ard Fheis in October 1917, but Griffith resigned as leader to be replaced by De Valera.
Griffith was elected MP for Cavan East in a by-election in the summer of 1918, held the seat in the general elction later that year and was also returned for the neighbouring constituency of Tyrone North West. In common with all SF MPs Griffith refused to take his seat at Westminster and instead was a member of the first Dáil in January 1919, where he served as Acting President of Dáil Éireann during De Valera’s absence from 1919 to 1921. Griffith was imprisoned from December 1920 to June 1921.
In October 1921, Griffith, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, headed the Irish delegation at the Treaty negotiations in London. After the Dáil split over the treaty that precipitated the Civil war Griffith was elected President of Dáil Éireann on 10th January 1922.
Arthur Griffith died of a brain haemorrage in Dublin on 12th August 1922, at the age of 50.

Guest

Thanks Lestat. Fascinating stuff.

Guest

According to Máirtín Ó Cadhain Castlereagh was an Irish-language enthusiast and was involved in an organisation designed to promote it, the organisation collapsed after he left the country. Was it Shelley who said something along the lines of "he cut his country`s throat and then he cut his own."?

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